~a month of unschool~

By marybethrew, on June 17th, 2013

i am still working on filling in gaps in the past several months for this series, one of which is back-dated here, but wanted to be sure to post a bit of our past month of unschooling while it’s still fresh in my mind.

~homeschool group ocean currents/salinity/waves unit~

we spent lots of time outside in the improving weather, working on our sensory-motor neurons. had more social engagements, including a fun bagel-making day when we read bagels from benny with our friends and made bagels from scratch. there they are, rising on the nice warm dashboard of my car.

the highlight of quinn’s 74th month, by far, was our trip to new york. the anticipation was palpable. quinn helped vacuum the car, and practiced using the escalator at fred meyer so he’d be ready for the ones in the airports. we had a fun time traveling, it’s much different with a 6 year old than it was with a not-yet-two-year-old; that was the last time i attempted air travel. quinn loved the brachiosaurus skeleton we walked under in o’hare.

though you have already seen more than enough photos from new york (if not, start here), i am posting one or two here that were specifically learning-oriented. and maybe a few others i wanted to see again. watching quinn reading bob books to grammy and grampy was a joy for me. his discovery of the game battleship falls into the math category, as he took right away to the coordinate system and played everyone who would sit still long enough.

there were more chores tackled, which continues to be a big theme for quinn right now, but i think the most important and obvious learning going on during the trip had to do with the invisible but extremely strong bond we have with family. it was fun, if sometimes a little teary eyed, to see quinn immerse himself seamlessly as if he is there for every tuesday night dinner with my family. getting to know (and climb on) his uncles and aunts, and playing in that special way that cousins have (more than a friend, almost a sibling? hard to describe). these were by far the most important moments spent this month, in my opinion.

back to life at home in oregon, where we have chosen family to come home to, and yet more homeschool projects; this time continuing on our buoyancy theme, drawing plans for and building boats, as well as reviewing the world oceans we learned a few weeks ago. another great month!